The Hunted
by Newbie GK
Summary: Sakuno didn't like scary things. She didn't watch horror movies or stay out late after dark. She even cringed at the sight of spiders so what was she doing at a haunted shrine in the wee hours of the morning? Oh yeah, Ryoma-kun smiled at her. Winner of the RyoSaku Fic Exchange 2013.


**Author's Note: **I had practically abandoned this fandom (and fic writing in general) when Bunny Sakuno (formerly BunnySailorMoon) posted a challenge on her profile and lured me back in. She's sneaky like that. I present the winner of the RyoSaku Fic Exchange 2013. I reposted it here as something a little "spooky" for Halloween. I might even be convinced to add Ryoma's perspective of events on here at some point. Hint, hint.

**Summary**: Sakuno didn't like scary things. She didn't watch horror movies or stay out late after dark. She even cringed at the sight of spiders so what was she doing at a haunted shrine in the wee hours of the morning? Oh yeah, Ryoma-kun smiled at her. [AKA Sakuno tries not to act like a fangirl and fails.)

**Warnings: **Do potential grammatical errors, typos, etc. count? Otherwise, this more just some Halloween-type "spookiness."

**Prompt: **Some Nights by astraldrop11

**Disclaimer: **Prince of Tennis is not mine. If it was, there is no way I would still be alive after letting this fandom sit around for so long. The fangirls would have hunted me down by now.

* * *

The Hunted

* * *

She was being hunted.

Sakuno crouched in the long grass, praying not to be found. She had chosen a small grove of camphor trees to hide among. The trees helped shroud her in darkness but it also meant her body was feeling the chill of the late hour. The adrenaline from earlier had dissipated from her veins and her light jacket wasn't enough to ward off the encroaching chill. If she wasn't so afraid of being caught, she would leave her place of refuge if only to warm up again. Instead, Sakuno chose to stay hidden. They were still looking for her.

Sakuno placed a tentative hand on the trunk of the tree closest to her and carefully peered out at the yard. It looked empty and deserted but Sakuno had learned appearances could be deceiving. The full moon provided more than enough light to see by but it also added to the spookiness factor of the evening. Tightly wound nerves had both sharpened her senses and made her more paranoid. Every sound was amplified and she couldn't stop herself from imagining eyes following her from every shadow. It was nerve-wrecking. A quick glance at her pink watch, a childhood gift from her grandmother, told her that it was finally approaching midnight. Two hours nearly done. Only one more to go.

A rustling sound caused her to tense and withdraw back into the shadows. The last time she thought she heard something, she was with Tomo. Tomo laughed it off thinking Sakuno was overreacting again and Sakuno didn't press the issue. By the time the girls realized the danger they were in, it was too late.

Sakuno managed to escape but Tomo wasn't so lucky. Now Sakuno was on her own.

Sakuno debated if she should just make a break for it. The sound could be nothing. She had been hearing things all night. The wind rustling the leaves sounded like someone breathing heavily. Echoes in the distance sounded right beside her. Twice she had mistaken rabbits scurrying in the underbrush for people closing in on her position. If she ran now, she risked someone seeing her and being captured. Then again if she didn't run, someone could sneak up behind her and catch her unaware. She bit her lip evaluating her choices.

Sakuno wished Tomo was still with her. Her friend thrived on chaos and adventure. Sakuno on the other hand preferred her excitement found in a well written novel or if she was feeling more active, she enjoyed a rousing game of tennis. Sneaking around an abandoned shrine where legend said evil spirits resided was nowhere on her list of things to do for a good time. She wanted to curse Tomo for dragging her into this mess. But truthfully it wasn't the other girl's fault. It was _his._

Sakuno heard the sound again. Her head jerked around to try to place its origin. She still didn't see anything but that didn't mean it wasn't there. Sakuno brought her legs under her body and waited. Slowing her breathing, she concentrated on the world around her. She could crickets chirping, the gentle breeze brushing through the strands of grass and footsteps directly behind her. Sakuno's eyes snapped opened. She bolted.

At first she wondered if she was overreacting again but then she heard the footsteps grow heavier behind her as her pursuer gave chase. Sakuno wasn't a sprinter. Her heart pounded from adrenaline as her feet struggled over the unfamiliar terrain. Panic sharpened her steps and her breathing became ragged from fear. Sakuno didn't chance looking back unsure of what she would find.

She was about to reach the foot bridge when something enclosed around her wrist and yanked her back. Had a hand not immediately encompassed her mouth, she would have shrieked. "Ryuzaki," a voice whispered into her ear. She couldn't see his face but she knew that voice anywhere.

Ryoma-kun.

Ryoma removed the hand over her mouth but didn't relinquish his hold over her wrist as he dragged her away from the bridge and closer to the shadows. She kept quiet as she stumbled along behind him, still in shock. She hadn't realized Ryoma was still here. Sakuno knew he had come of course, but this was the first time she spotted him all night. Before she could ask him why he decided to scare the living daylights out of her, she spotted a flashlight weaving quickly towards them.

"Ryoma-kun," she whispered. He must have seen the light as well because a second later he pushed her behind some shrubbery. It wasn't a graceful fall. Her arms behind her weren't quick enough to slow her descent and she landed hard on her tailbone. She was about to complain when Ryoma landed nearly on top of her lap.

Sakuno stopped breathing. Her heart began pounding again but it was for much different reasons. She knew she was being silly, ridiculous even. Here they were on an abandon property, potentially filled with ghosts and evil spirits, people were hunting them and her mind filled with only one thought: Ryoma-kun.

His hands were splayed on either side of her body. His face rested just inches from her own. The part of her that sounded suspiciously like a mixture of Tomo and one too many chick-flick movies wanted her to tilt her head forward and brush her lips against his.

"Ryoma-kun," she breathed softly.

Ryoma moved away.

Sakuno told herself it was relief and not disappointment she felt when he shifted away to sit beside her. She lied.

"I'm telling you I heard something," a voice said from near the footbridge. The voice sounded vaguely familiar so Sakuno turned to carefully sneak a peek over the shrub that hid them from sight.

The speaker was Kai from her class; he must have been chosen as one of the hunters for tonight's festivities. It was too dark for her to make out the face of his partner but based on his size, it was either Tazumo-san or Ichi-kun.

"It's gone now," the other boy said, "Let's split up. You check this side and I'll head to the other. If we want to win this, we need to hurry to round up the stragglers."

As the pair separated, Sakuno knelt back to the ground. She glanced over at Ryoma-kun and found him staring at her. She shifted nervously. "What is it?" she asked eventually, unable to withstand his penetrating gaze.

"Let's move," he said instead, rising to semi-crouched position.

Sakuno hesitated. Kai was still out there and she worried about being spotted.

The rules for the test of courage were clear.

If you scream, you're out.

If you leave the grounds, you're out.

If you get caught by a 'hunter,' you're out.

Last man standing at midnight wins. To her surprise, she was less than an hour away from making it. She didn't want to ruin her chances now.

"Ryuzaki," Ryoma said again, voice bossy and impatient as ever, "let's go."

Sakuno sighed and rose to a low crouch to follow him. She kept her footsteps soft and light as they left the area near the footbridge. She didn't want to get into another running match with Kai so close.

Ryoma found a quiet spot near the tamagaki gate that surrounded the main shine. The proximity to the shrine made her nervous, so when Ryoma motioned for her to sit she did so with hesitation. While Sakuno wasn't a superstitious person by nature, Tomo had decided they should spend the week leading up to the test of courage telling ghost stories.

Her friend claimed it would be a good way to get them familiarized with surprises. For Sakuno, the stories had the opposite effect and only made her even jumpier in the dark. When Ryoma brushed against her hand, she squeaked.

"What are you even still doing here?" he asked dryly, "you hate these things."

She didn't bother defending herself. He was right. Sakuno didn't like scary things. She didn't watch horror movies or stay out late after dark. She even cringed at the sight of spiders so the idea that she voluntary agreed to run around a haunted shrine into the wee hours of the morning was more than a bit ridiculous.

She glanced at the boy sitting across from her. His cat-shaped eyes were scanning the grounds for movement; his body waiting alert for any threats. When he caught her gaze, he focused his hazel eyes upon her. Her head dropped as her cheeks turned pink.

"Well?" he asked again.

Sakuno shrugged and didn't meet his eyes. It was too embarrassing to reveal that truthfully, she only came for him. It sounded ridiculous even to her own ears. When the class had voted on doing a secret test of courage, she had been completely against it. Even ignoring the spookiness factor, it was a horrible idea. If they were caught sneaking on abandoned property, they could end up in serious trouble. Their school could expel them. But before Sakuno could protest but she got caught up in the wake of Ryoma like she always did.

Ryoma huffed when Sakuno declined answering his question a second time but his eyes went back to focusing on their surroundings. She felt relieved to escape his gaze. Even since they entered high school, things had been... different between them. She still cheered him at his tennis matches. The closeness of their families meant they still occasionally encountered each other outside of school. But somehow the passing of time had weakened their connection to one another. They rarely talked. Sakuno gave up bringing him bentos when he was participating in a tournament. Slowly she even stopped attending the practices to watch him play against his teammates.

Eventually, the separation between them just grew until they drifted apart.

Sakuno couldn't even blame it on Ryoma's aloof nature anymore. The tennis prodigy, once so reticent around his fellow classmates, had started to become more open with people in the last year. He still wasn't chatty by any stretch of the imagination, but he would talk in class and wasn't as closed off as he was when he was twelve.

It was strange. Sakuno used to be one of the closest people he could call a friend. Now just as they have gone their separate ways, Ryoma starts becoming more social. As much as it hurt, she was still proud of him.

And yet, it was a shock to hear Ryoma agree to the Test of Courage. Minimal talking in class aside, he rarely hung out with classmates outside of school without it being tennis related. Sakuno was so surprised at Ryoma's response, she didn't hear her classmates the first time they asked if she was going to be attending as well. When they repeated the question a second time, Ryoma snorted before she could politely decline.

"Ryuzaki wouldn't last five minutes."

Sakuno gaped at him. "I could too."

Ryoma turned to her, a challenging spark in his eyes. "You honestly think you can manage it," he said smirking.

Despite men's thoughts to the contrary, smirking does not incur good favor or make them look more handsome. It only makes women want to slap them. Sakuno's eyes narrowed dangerous. "I might even do better than you, Ryoma-kun," she replied evenly.

He blinked as if surprised by her unexpected boldness and then he did something she had never seen before. He smiled at her.

It was the smile that undid her. Ryoma-kun smirked, taunted, teased, and bantered. He rarely smiled.

At anyone. Least of all her.

Before she knew it, her name was on the list and was locked into attending. Sakuno wanted desperately to back out but Tomo-chan had dragged her aside and refused to let her. Tomo argued this was Sakuno's chance to prove that wasn't some simpering fangirl. It was her shot to show Ryoma and everyone in their class that Sakuno had grown as a person.

Easy for Tomo to say. Sakuno didn't want to prove herself. She wanted to be at home. In bed. Under her heavy blanket with a cup of hot cocoa just within reach on her nightstand. She was tired of traipsing around in the dark and tripping over every possible rock in her path. She was worn out from jumping at each twig snapping in the distance.

Sakuno was tired and thirsty and wanted very much just to go home. More than once Sakuno had debating just heading to the front gate and turning herself in just to be put out of her misery. But she resisted. Weaknesses against dark and scary things aside, her grandmother had raised Sakuno to never quit. She didn't want to start now.

"Still think you can win this?" Ryoma asked quietly.

Sakuno huffed and settled for sending him a disgruntled glare. "I made it this far, didn't I?"

"Still have a long way to go," he commented.

She buried herself deeper within her jacket. Now that they had stopped running, she was beginning to feel cold again. "I'm not as weak as you think," she said quietly.

Ryoma looked at her, evaluating. She ignored his examination. Sakuno had come to terms with her abilities and her shortcomings. She would never be a tennis star or an ace in English and disappointment from her former crush would hurt her feelings perhaps but it wouldn't be as crippling as it used to be.

Sakuno had grown. She wasn't a fawning fangirl anymore. Ryoma would always hold a special place in her heart as her first crush but she wouldn't live her life solely based around Ryoma and his desires. She didn't care what he thought of her anymore.

Except, Sakuno thought as she lifted her head, tonight she had.

Sakuno scowled at the realization. Tonight, she lied to grandmother to attend an event that terrified her just because Ryoma flashed her a genuine smile. Not only that, she let Ryoma goad her into challenging him to see who could survive the longest. Without even realizing it, she let Ryoma manipulate her like one of his opponents on the tennis courts.

And still, not even ten minutes ago, Sakuno wanted to kiss him as they hid from the hunters.

Well... shoot.

Apparently Sakuno still had some growing to do.

Sakuno shook her head and let out a heavy sigh. She shouldn't let a few heat of the moment actions undermine the progress she made over the last few months. Tonight aside, she was much improved than her twelve year old self. And everyone slipped up now and then. That's all this was, a brief slip-up, a small mistake. It didn't mean anything.

So Sakuno still found Ryoma-kun attractive. Who didn't? It didn't mean that Sakuno was going to start following him around like a love-struck fangirl again.

She tried not to think about the fact she was relieved that Ryoma had come to save her. Again. And the fact she felt safer now with him than she had all night.

"Let's move."

"What?" she whispered as Ryoma stood. "Shouldn't we stay in one place?"

"Only if you want to get caught. They're coming."

She listened for a second. "I don't hear anything."

Ryoma fixed her a look that said he was superior to her in every way and whose senses was she going to trust. Sakuno huffed. The boy could say a lot without using any words.

She rose to her feet ready to follow him once more. Mentally she took an eraser to last three months of progress she had made in becoming more independent of Ryoma.

This time Ryoma didn't reach for her hand. He just turned and started walking. Sakuno tried not to feel disappointed. She failed.

Mentally, Sakuno erased another two months of progress from the board. Tomorrow morning though she was going to have a very stern talk with herself. It didn't bode well that the first time she experience some one-on-one time with Ryoma, she regressed nearly five months.

But that was tomorrow. Tonight, and just for tonight, she would rely on Ryoma's strength one last time.

It wasn't until he started leading her into the Honden, the main shrine, that she began to protest in earnest. Ryoma may be cute but Sakuno valued her _soul._ There was no way she was going into the actual shrine that was rumored to be inhabited with evil spirits. When Ryoma noticed she wasn't following, he yanked her forward by the wrist.

"What are you thinking?" she hissed. When he looked around to see if anyone might have heard, she remembered they needed to be quieter. " Ryoma-kun," she protested, digging in her heels, "we can't go in there."

"Why not?"

"It's abandoned."

"This whole place is abandoned."

"It's _sacred_."

"You just said it was abandoned."

"We don't even know what's in there."

"Besides empty rooms to hide in?"

She doubted a reminder about the building being haunted would sway him despite the fact it terrified her. In the two hours since the game began, she hadn't come within 20 feet of the structure. Just looking at its ghastly facade was enough to send shivers down her spine. "What if we get lost?" she said finally.

He gave her a flat look.

"What?"

"That only happens when you lead."

She was still looking at the building so it took her a second to catch up with his words. "Hey!" she protested angrily, then a half of a second later, she undermined it with a giggle.

"Ryoma-kun might have a point," she conceded.

"Might?"

"Oh hush," she said, secretly amused. When he started heading inside, this time she willingly followed. While she didn't necessarily appreciate being the subject of his teasing, it was a fact of life that Ryoma was a little bit of bully. He enjoyed picking on the important people in his life. He used to love teasing her about the length of her hair and her poor tennis stance. And tonight just for a moment, his jibe about her lack of directional sense felt wonderfully familiar. She could even pretend things were back how they used to be.

Sakuno winced.

As much as she missed being Ryoma's "friend," she didn't want things to go back to how they used to be. Back then Ryoma barely noticed her existence. And Sakuno was so in love with him, she was willing to live on scraps of whatever attention Ryoma deemed fit to toss her. Sakuno valued herself too much now to go back to that.

Right, as soon as she got home and out of this nightmare, Sakuno really needed to have that talk to herself about how to avoid being a fangirl. Because this was getting ridiculous.

Sakuno was doing better than Tomo at least. Her best friend may have snagged herself a boyfriend in the last few months but Tomo-chan couldn't help but make some comment of praise or mention of Ryoma's name on a weekly basis. Then again, Tomo did mention that Kaidoh had a jealous streak so maybe she did it on purpose. Tomo was devious like that. At least Sakuno wasn't waxing poetry about Ryoma's appearance yet.

Although, his figure did cast a striking image in the moonlight...

Right, not going there.

Sakuno snuck another quick peek under her lashes at him. She couldn't help it. Ryoma had nice shoulders from all the years of playing tennis. Then she tripped over her own shoelaces. Sakuno didn't fall but Ryoma definitely heard the misstep if his brief snickering was anything to go by. She huffed. Ryoma could be such a bully.

Once they were inside the house, Sakuno remembered her nervousness. Snippets from the stories Tomo read to her kept creeping into her mind. The rooms were dark and the few windows did little to cast the moonlight inside. Overturned furniture sat under layers of grime and dust. When one of the floorboards creaked under her foot she nearly jumped a mile. She shuffled closer to Ryoma.

"Ryoma-kun," she pleaded, "can't we find another place to hide?"

"I thought you wanted to win," he replied, carefully steering her around some broken floorboards. "The hunters don't come in here."

They didn't come in for a good reason. Sakuno wasn't worried about a couple of teenagers running around scaring people. She was worried about a vengeful ghost ripping out her soul and dooming her for a life of torment for all of eternity. Sakuno was going to have nightmares about this place. Then she ran headfirst into Ryoma's back.

"Ryoma-kun," she grumbled as she stepped away rubbing her nose gingerly, "why did you stop?"

"Here," he said.

"What?"

"Go inside."

She looked at the room then back at Ryoma. Then once again at the room. She looked at Ryoma once last time who looked decidedly unamused at her hesitation.

"It's a closet," she said blankly.

"It'll do."

Huffing, she stepped inside. As she tried to get herself situated in the narrow space, she had a revelation. "You can't hide here too! There's no room."

"We'll be fine," Ryoma said and closed the door behind him.

It was probably a good thing it was so dark because Sakuno had a feeling her face resembled a ripe cherry tomato. She shifted nervously on her feet trying to create space between her and her former crush. She ran into a broom stuffed at the back of the closet and completely knocked it over. She froze.

Although she couldn't see him, she could feel Ryoma tense form beside her. They stood in complete silence, waiting for someone to come investigate the crash. When a few minutes went by and no one appeared, Sakuno started to relax. Then she remembered she was trapped in a closet with _Ryoma-kun_.

Her heart sped back up.

She pulled out her cell phone to check the time. The screen lit up casting a faint blue glow around the small space. 11:38 pm. Less than a half hour left. Ryoma's hand came up to cover the screen.

"Shut off the light," he whispered.

She nodded and put her cell phone away casting the room back into darkness.

She could smell him. It wasn't intentional. They were standing practically right on top of each other, so she couldn't help it. It wasn't in a sweaty, he needs to shower kind of way but more like in a "wow, you're a boy and I'm a girl and do you know what that means Ryoma-kun?" version. Which would be great, except for the part where Ryoma-kun didn't notice girls.

Even girls wearing low cut tops and skirts that showcased more skin than they covered didn't garner a second look from the infamous Prince of Tennis. And some girls had tried. Hardcore tried. It had gotten so bad at one of the tournaments that security escorted a few of Ryoma's more enthusiastic fans out and told them not to bother coming back unless they were properly attired. And Ryoma, oblivious as ever, never even batted an eye at the girls throwing themselves at him left and right.

The only thing that entered his head was tennis.

Sakuno had a feeling the only way a girl in scanty clothing could gain Ryoma's attention was if she aimed a twist serve directly at his head. Even then the Prince of Tennis would probably ignore the clothes, return the serve, and mutter made made dane at them before stalking off the court. If Sakuno had been the one to lob it at his head, he probably would have added in a reminder that her hair was still too long.

The mental image caused Sakuno to giggle.

Soon her giggles devolved into all out chortles.

Maybe it was a result of the mental image of Sakuno pitching a tennis ball at Ryoma's head or the lateness of the hour or maybe it was the fact she was closer to her crush than she had been in _years_ without even trying but somehow the ridiculousness of her situation had sank in and she couldn't stop laughing.

Sakuno heard Ryoma shift beside her. No doubt he was going to remind her that they were hiding and they needed to be quiet if they didn't want to be found. Sakuno tried to calm herself down but soon enough she would be giggling again. She went to apologize instead but before she could get out the words a pair of lips descended on her own.

Ryoma-kun was kissing her.

He was kissing her.

And it felt nice.

Nicer than nice. Great in fact.

Except... why was Ryoma-kun kissing her? Every time she tried to ask him, she encountered more kisses that stole away her breath and robbed her of reason.

Eventually she drew the strength to push him away. "What's going on?" she said.

Ryoma didn't respond. He was still close to her and her fingertips lingered on his chest from when she pushed him apart. The silence lingered between them causing the tension to swell. Sakuno pulled out her phone to illuminate his face. She couldn't think in the dark like this. She half expected Ryoma's eyes to be turned away, back to ignore her like he usually did. But he wasn't. Cat shaped eyes focused solely on her.

"You've been ignoring me, Sakuno," he said finally, his voice sending goosebumps scattering across her arms, "it's time we change that."

And Sakuno who had been running and evading all night, finally allowed herself to be caught.


End file.
